Some of the 150-plus fees paid to the city by developers dropped with new approved changes, but some builders are concerned about sharp spikes in some rates that could be leveled off or even reduced with an improvement of efficiency.
The city council approved the new fee schedule at Wednesday’s meeting. It’s the first time the city has comprehensively updated its building, engineering, planning and other development-related fees since 2002, according to assistant city manager Leslie Little. The city wanted to update the fees – including those for building, grading and sign permits, plus site plan reviews and fire inspections – to ensure it is fully recovering all the staff time and resources spent on processing developers’ applications, plans and payments. The previous fees were not recovering all the city’s costs for such services.
The new fees were drafted by consultant Willdan Financial Services, who conducted a thorough fee study based on 100-percent recovery of the “fully burdened hourly rate.” The study includes detailed analysis of the hourly wages paid to city staff who process the fees and permits, and the city’s costs for supplies, materials and overhead to complete the services.
Little said the new fees “reflect changes in staff, and the activities themselves that are being performed.” One of the biggest changes is in the fees that developers must pay to compete in the annual growth control allotment process.
Dick Oliver, president of Dividend Homes, noted that the growth control fee went up from $13,000 to $18,000 – a “38-percent increase.” He said he understands the city’s motive to recover costs for services that only benefit the user. But in a housing market that has seen a 30-percent decline in sales prices since the recession of 2008 began, there is no way for the builders to recover their increasing costs.
“My suggestion is when you’re doing the next (growth control) competition, give staff the assignment to see if they can streamline the process so they do not have to spend the time (to process) multiple applications,” Oliver said.
Another specific gripe Oliver had with the fees is that a monthly “stormwater pollution prevention plan” inspection fee of $800 is burdensome, especially since it’s a duplicated service. He noted that developers are already required by the state to hire independent inspectors to carry out the exact same service for developments that are under construction. He said he currently pays $200 per week to his third-party inspector.
“That should be sufficient. The city shouldn’t have to reinspect what an independent third party” has already done, Oliver said.
City manager Ed Tewes said the city is also shackled by federal and state mandates that make it difficult to avoid the repetitive and duplicative services.
Other notable fee increases include the utility undergrounding fee (from $123 to $612 per foot), urban service area amendment application (from $5,151 to $13,280) and the environmental impact review fee (from $5,856 to $11,139).
